THIS idyllic scene with horses drinking and coachmen idling around was captured in the town of Nitra sometime around 1925. Today, hundreds of cars pass this place every day heading to a nearby bridge over the Nitra River.
Also, interestingly, at the time when the picture was taken the location was situated in the town’s periphery while now it lies near the centre.
The building on the left is the Árpád Mill, one of the oldest industrial sites in Nitra. Flour from the mill was exported mainly to Hungary, Austria and Silesia but it also reached markets in Bohemia and Moravia.
When a cholera epidemic broke out in Nitra in 1873, the mill was turned into a hospital. It later returned to its original role and in 1935 it became Slovakia’s first paprika mill.
The building, however, no longer exists. A modern shopping centre has taken its place.
